Our first day

Kirilipana Ceylon Community Kitchen
3rd July 2022

On the morning of Sunday, we left for Matara Pasgoda Kirilipana estate after receiving a phone call to the Ceylon Youth Movement from one of our activists, Kasturi from Kirilipana. It's a very sad story. 

In the face of the severe economic disaster that has occurred in Sri Lanka, various layers have started to shake badly. Food is the most essential factor for a human being to live. This disaster was such that the small children of Kirilipana Estate who were in the middle of that crisis reached the first stages of malnutrition.

Lawyer Namini Panditha, the founder of the 'Help Cabinet' concept in Sri Lanka, and fellow activist Lahiru Weerasuriya, the organizer for the Ceylon Youth Movement, went to Kirilipana to create the first Community Kitchen and find some solutions to their problems with community participation.

For this concept to arise, we received various suggestions, support and help from the dear members of our organizations as well as the dear brothers and sisters who are connected through our organizations locally and abroad.

Dear hearts living in the Matara district had already given many things they needed to the Matara Help Cabinet including dry food.

We took those things to the vehicle we got through the help closet and Ravindu's brother who came to our aid also went to the beautiful Kirilipana estate in the morning in the heavy rain.

When we arrived, those innocent little eyes, young people and adults all hugged us very lovingly. They had brought together whatever they could find along with some things that we had informed them about before.

We both saw a few kangkung leaves, a few leaves, some kathurumurunga leaves, and two or three coconuts..... They found such things in their garden. The girls and boys started cutting vegetables and fruits together. Elderly people build the hearth.
A few young men cut meat. 

Both of us watched the concepts coming out of them without saying a word about the "Community Kitchen" concept. At that time Podi Ung came to us and started telling us poems and stories in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Took photos to stay with us. In a few minutes, we were able to escape from their hospitality and join them.
Pregnant mothers, married people and the elderly started coming to see us little by little. So we both taught them about the 'Help Cabinet' and the 'Community Kitchen' concept.

Red raw rice was cooked with chicken, lentils, Kovalam paala mallum and beans.
Not only that but also with a delicious fruit salad. Children and adults all ate rice to fill their stomachs. There were about 150 in all. So happy for them as well as for all of us. We also ate with them. The food prepared to their taste was really delicious.